Human skin is the outer covering of the body and is the largest organ of the body. Human skin performs monumental functions twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week from birth to death.
A basic discussion of the various functions of the skin is found on the Internet website, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_skin. On this website it teaches that the skin performs the function of protection by providing an anatomical barrier from pathogens and damage between the internal and external environment in bodily defense. The skin contains a variety of nerve endings that react to heat and cold, touch, pressure, vibration, and tissue injury functioning to provide sensation.
The skin helps the body with heat regulation. Dilated blood vessels in the skin increase perfusion and heat loss, while constricted vessels greatly reduce cutaneous blood flow and conserve heat. Further, the skin provides a relatively dry and semi-impermeable barrier that controls evaporation or fluid loss. The skin communicates to others your mood, attractiveness, or physical state; it acts as a storage center for lipids and water, and synthesizes vitamin D by action of ultraviolet light on certain parts of the skin.
Additional functions of the skin include excretion; sweat contains urea in a much lower concentration than urine, however, by sweating it is a secondary function in temperature regulation. The skin provides a means for absorption; medicine can be administered through the skin, by ointments or an adhesive patch and has become an important site of transport to internal organs. The skin is also water resistant and acts as a water-resistant barrier so essential nutrients are not washed out of the body.
As skin ages, it becomes thinner and more easily damaged. Intensifying the effect of aging is the decreasing ability of skin to heal itself as a person ages. In addition, skin aging is accompanied by a decrease in volume and elasticity.
Attention to aging skin has been a priority for over 3000 years and the history of skin care is chronicled and summarized on the Internet website: www.glamourdaze.com/2015/02/a-short-history-of-skincare-cosmetics.html. On this website, it is reported that in ancient times, masks were used to cleanse and maintain the skin's moisture. The Egyptians used anti-wrinkle creams made with essential oil of frankincense.
In the last 2000 years, additional anti-aging skin care concoctions included scrubs, eggs, crocodile dung, muds, herbs, salves, soap, castile soap for the wealthy, toners, scented waters, acid peels, salons for facial treatments, foundations, pressed powders, moisturizers, toners, cleansers, creams with vitamin E, petrolatum, beta-hydroxy, collagen, alpha-hydroxyl acids, vitamins A, C, E and B, and in this twenty-first century, hyraluronic acid moisturizers, antioxidants, sunscreens are in the market.
The main change in cosmetic skin products has been the switch away from using animal and synthetic derived ingredients to using all or partial natural and organic ingredients. Hormonal and steroidal creams have been replaced with botanical stem cell extracts to cleanse, tone, moisturize, “plump-up” the skin to erase wrinkles, fine lines, and the like.
In 2016, the global skin care market was estimated to be worth 121 billion U.S. dollars, according to The Statistics Portal, www.statista.com/statistics/254612/global-skin-care-market-size. “The U.S. skin care and toiletries market in general is benefiting from rising demand for natural and organic products . . . . Companies continue to offer consumers innovative products, concentrating on developing environmentally friendly products either made locally or using locally sourced ingredients. Anti-aging products also represent a strong growth area in the U.S. market.”
There are patents and patent publications that represent the state of the art for anti-aging formulations. As the patents and patent publications demonstrate, many substances are applied topically to the skin of humans in order to improve appearance, retain moisture levels, repair damage from the environment and slow down the aging process, and create a cosmetic improvement of the skin surface.
There has been a recent shift in focus from the use of topical applications to improve visual appearance of the skin surface to the use of topical applications to influence cell behavior and the effects of cell behavior on aging and disease. The cell behavior of interest is autophagy. The term autophagy means “self-eating,” and refers to the processes by which your body cleans out debris, including toxins, and recycles damaged cell components.
As explained in layman's terms by Greatist at www.greatist.com (Feb. 29, 2016) “Your cells create membranes that hunt out scraps of dead, diseased, or worn-out cells; gobble them up; strip 'em for parts; and use the resulting molecules for energy or to make new cell parts.”
In Autophagy and aging; keeping that old broom working by Ana Maria Cuervo, published online: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2745226/Nov. 5, 2008, Cuervo provides a review of evidence in support of the connections between autophagy, health span and aging.
In addition, the state of the art for anti-aging formulations using the body's autophagy process include plants or yeasts as active ingredients in cosmetic compositions.
Thus, after 3000 years, the global cosmetics industry is still actively pursuing products useful in reducing signs of aging or reducing signs of aged skin, mankind's most vital organ. Men and women are looking for new ways to stall the passage of time and improve the overall appearance of skin which is inclined to develop wrinkles, fine lines, discoloration, dullness, sagging, loss of tone, loss of elasticity, thinning, dryness and rough texture. There have been hundreds of choices in the type of skin care treatments and products available. Yet, there remains a need for cosmetic compositions which reduce the manifestations of skin aging associated with reduced autophagy activity within skin cells. The present invention meets the need for such cosmetic compositions.